


A heart can love two

by owl_flies_over_snowy_mountains



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Minor Keyleth/Vax'ildan (Critical Role), Minor Keyleth/Vex'ahlia (Critical Role), Minor Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III/Vex'ahlia, Minor Shaun Gilmore/Vax'ildan, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27042436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owl_flies_over_snowy_mountains/pseuds/owl_flies_over_snowy_mountains
Summary: After a night of drinking, Percy sees Vex leave with Keyleth for some alone time. And he's ok with that. Really. No problem.It's most definitely not the loneliness that drives him to seek out Vax. And when he's already there, why not finally give in to the want that has been flaring up inside him every time he's close to him?Many reasons, Percy concludes the next morning. One of them being that you can't hide from a rouge when you're trying to feel terrible on your own.
Relationships: Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III/Vax'ildan, Vox Machina/Vox Machina
Kudos: 30





	A heart can love two

**Author's Note:**

> Percy is very talented at blaming himself for everything that goes wrong around him but never saying anything about it. So it's no wonder it takes that self-flagellation coming to someone else's attention to finally get someone to help him snap out of it.

“If you're lying to me, at least have the decency to do it to my face.”

Percy's grip on his workbench became white-knuckled.  
He had known lying to Vax would be hard. He had known, gods he had known. But knowing it'll hurt, and _hurting_ , are very different things.  
Vax's gaze was burning on him, singing his hair where he had his back turned to his friend.  
“Vax. I have stated where I stand on this issue, and I will not repeat myself again,” Percy said. 

Vax made a chocked noise. “Bullshit. Are you even listening to yourself Percival?”  
Suddenly, his voice was closer, it was shaking. With what, Percy wasn't sure. “You don't get to come into my room, spend a night drinking with me, a night flirting with me. Kissing me. Telling me that you _love_ me. And then just. Just act like it meant _nothing_.”

Percys breath hitched. His memory was hazy, tinged by desperation, by wanting. They had been celebrating their most recent victory, all of them drunk on ale and feelings. Then Vex had left with Keyleth. She did that now, since Keyleth shares Vax with Gilmore. Since Percy sat her down and told her clearly he was ok with sharing her if that would make her happy. And he was ok with it. He really was. But after having gotten a taste of what companionship felt like, what _not_ falling asleep alone every night felt like. It hurt.  
So he had gone where his drunken mind had guided him. Ending up in Vax's room, liquor bottle in hand.  
He hadn't planned to let it escalate. Hadn't had any plan, except maybe the vaguest notion of getting drunk and not being lonely anymore. But his mind had kept whispering, “Stop denying yourself. Vex has decided it's ok to follow her desire to someone else's bed. Why shouldn't you?”  
A stronger man might have resisted, stayed at a distance. Kept his fantasies to himself. But Percy wasn't strong. He was weak. Utterly weak.  
In a drunken haze, the spite, the loneliness, and sheer and utter _want_ got the best of him. And he had _let_ it. 

“Goddamnit Percy.”  
Strong hands, forceful yet eternally gentle, cupped his face, turned it so that he had to look Vax in the eye. “Say something. If you tell me you didn't like it, if you tell me you don't feel comfortable with this kind of arrangement, I can deal with that. I can take the piece of my heart that was meant for you, pack it up, and never show it to anyone ever again. But I am not gonna leave until you actually _tell me_ why you don't want me.” 

Warm breath ghosted over Percy's face. Full lips, teasing, so close he'd just have to lean forward the tiniest bit to kiss them. A traitorous warmth started pooling in Percy's gut. “I-,” he licked his lips, “it was a mistake to come to you. I can but ask for forgiveness.”  
“That's no answer to my question.”  
Vax just kept staring at him with hurt so clear in his eyes, Percy couldn't stop talking, couldn't stop stumbling over his words.  
“Vex had gone with Keyleth, and I was drunk. I should have just stayed in my room, I didn't mean to involve you, didn't mean to hurt you, didn't mean to break what you have.”  
“You're not breaking anything by coming to me. You're only breaking things by running away,” Vax chocked out.

It was too much.  
“Don't you understand?!” Percy's voice trembled. With anger, with self loathing, with desperation. “This is exactly what I mean. Look at me! I tell Vex it's ok, but the moment I get lonely I let my desires get the best of me and run to someone else! I can't even keep one person happy, how do you expect me to do it for more?!”  
His chest was heaving. Hands balled into fists, breathing ragged, his eyes burning. 

“Percival-”  
Vax looked at him. Really _looked_ at him. Now he'd understand. Understand what a fuck up Percy was. Understand there was no saving him, and he'd leave. Percy was sure of it.  
But Vax just kept standing there. Looking at him.  
“Why are you still here?” Percy asked, pain and guilt clawing at his chest. He felt weirdly tired. Like the shouting had sapped all his energy. “I break everything I touch. I kissed you out of spite. Gave promises I can't keep. Instead of explaining and apologizing I ran away. What do you still want from me?”

“Percival...”  
It sounded so soft.  
“Do you want me?”  
Percy's voice gave out. “What?”  
“Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III. Do you _want_ me?”  
The tiniest sound managed to escape Percy's lips. “..yes.”  
“Then we can make it work.”

Vax's hands held him. Calloused fingers caressed his cheek.  
“Why waste your time on me? I'm broken. When your sister noticed, she backed away as soon as she could. She's much happier now.”  
Suddenly, the grasp on his face tightened.  
“So that's what you think is going on.”  
It wasn't a question.  
“Tell me Percival. If my sister cared so little about you, why would she spend so much time thinking of you? Why would she bother to confirm with you if you're ok with everything if she didn't love you? Why would she come to me, _crying_ -” Vax's eyes were smoldering, “-when she realized she had feelings for Keyleth and thought she'd have to choose?”

Percy's eyes shot open. “She cried because of that?”  
“What do you think Freddie?! Of course she didn't go 'oh, I'm in a relationship with Percy whom I love so much that I committed to him, and now I have also fallen in love with my brothers girlfriend so I'll just frolick around in the sunshine'!”  
The mockery in his voice stung, but at least it didn't feed the warmth inside Percy's gut the way the soft touches had.  
“My sister was _devastated_. She thought she had broken the trust between the two of you. So guess how happy she was, when you told her that you didn't hate her for it. When you encouraged her to pursue Keyleth. When you told her you'll continue loving her.”  
Vax's eyes bore deep into Percy, right down to his most inner parts, where even Percy himself rarely risked a look.  
“Do you understand Percival?”  
“She loves me,” he said, no choice but to believe now. “And she loves Keyleth. She loves both of us.”  
Vax's eyes started to glow.  
“Yes, exactly!”  
“She loves both of us.”  
Vax's smile was contagious.  
“She loves both of us!”  
Percy was beaming now. Giddy with excitement. 

“So where does that leave us?” Vax asked.  
“How much does Vex know?”  
“I gave her the gist of things. She was so kind as to leave me to handle my own affairs.”  
Percy raised an eyebrow.  
“It took some convincing, but I threatened her with a more detailed recount of the night.”  
“And. She'd be ok with it? With us?”  
Vax laughed. “Of course she is! She said herself, she'd be the biggest hypocrite ever if she wasn't.”  
Percy couldn't stop an incredulous laugh.  
“So, Percival. What are you going to do with that information?”  
“Are you really sure you want-”  
“Stop doubting yourself and just kiss me already.”

So Percy kissed him.  
Deep.  
Passionate.  
With all the ravenous _want_ that had build up inside of him, he grabbed Vax and kissed him.  
Vax kissed him back, having no problem matching his hunger, no problem matching the roaring flames that had ignited inside of him.

An eternity later, but also way too soon, Percy had to pull away. Panting, trying to catch his breath.  
“How does that feel?”  
Vax's pupils were dilated. His face was lit up with a giant grin, drunk on feeling.  
“Less talking,” Percy rasped, “more kissing.”


End file.
